As we would be driving back to Switzerland, we eventually found out that a friend of ours Desmond, had a few rabbits that they kept in their garden, and he agreed to take ours on.

He decided to put Cuddles in a separate area, so that their larger rabbits would get to know him gradually. We heard later that our little Cuddles had become the boss and was quite a cheeky one! So, all ended well.


Swiss Garden Free Help

We have had a problem with our Swiss garden. Every time we arrived back from our couple of months in Spain, we had to tackle our overgrown garden that was full of weeds again. We had arranged to have the lawn cut now and then whilst in Spain, but that was all that we had done, because of the remarkably excessive cost of labour! We were quoted well over 7,000 CHF per year, to keep part of our garden in reasonable order, but this was not to look after all the garden and was also restricted to coming only whilst we were away! I decided this was far too expensive and then Trudy had a particularly promising idea.

We had discovered that there was a long waiting list for garden allotments, and there were not any near to our home. The demand came about, because there are so many apartment blocks without gardens, and more are being built all the time. We decided to put a free card advert, in the two local supermarkets, to advertise 'Free Garden Land to Grow Your Own Vegetables', in return for maintaining the rest of our garden. Within 3 days a lady came who was so keen she wanted to start right away!

We explained that we have a separate part of our garden, which had often been used for vegetables, and we would allow her to use this large piece of land free of charge and she can come as often as she likes. But in return we expect her to look after the whole garden for us, she can use our garden tools and there is electricity and water available in our garden. We are lucky to have a back-passage access to it, so there was no need to come through the house.

She seemed genuinely nice and was so delighted, so we introduced her to our neighbours, who told us they have never heard of such an idea, and they agreed that this really is a "win, win" situation!

This has been such a relief to me, as before this happened, I was finding it such a back breaking job (partly due now to being older!) and I was thinking that we would have to sell and buy a flat instead, which I knew Trudy did not want to do.


A Great Friendship that Sadly Ended.

The last time that we were with Paris and Jenny, we had a lovely time together, Champagne was flowing as usual, and it was wonderful to have Helen and Andrew with us too. We all stayed at Paris and Jenny's amazing home overlooking the lake of Annecy with the mountains forming the background.

But after what happened on the last night, our friendship with Paris would never be the same. So much time has now passed without any kind of contact, we often think of them, as Trudy and I thought we would always be the best of friends with Paris forever, having had so many great times that we both will always cherish.

We were so lucky to have him as a close friend when we did, we have so many good memories, he made life so exciting, and we had so much fun together for so many years!